“Jordan,” he replies, stretching a hand in my direction.
I take his hand. “I’m Ellie.”
“Lovely to meet you, Ellie, and not just because of the upgrade.” He smiles again, and I realize how attractive he is. Clean-cut, but still handsome.
“Nice to meet you.” I slide my hand away, reaching for my phone again. “If you give me your number, I’ll text you the details later.” He adds his number to my phone, and I send him a text so he can save my info. We spend the rest of the time chatting about all things music while we wait for our clothes.
Once my things are dry, I toss them in the bag. I wave bye to Jordan, promising to text him later and get into my waiting Uber.
When I’m back in my room, I finish sorting my clothes. I feel like dressing up a little more tonight. I made a new friend, and even though I likely won’t see him again after tonight, maybe he’ll be up for a drink after. I’m not against a little random makeout sesh. Or more, if it gets to that. Anything to keep my mind off the lead singer that I work for.
“Thank God,where have you been? I’m dying out here. This is not part of my job,” Calvin cries as soon as I step into the guy’s greenroom.
“Are you kidding?” I deadpan. His job as manager is literally to do anything and everything for them. I guarantee Tanner wouldn’t ask him to do something that wasn’t in his contract. He doesn’t skimp on details.
“No, I’m not kidding. I have more pressing shit I need to be doing right now. What took you so long?”
I take a calming breath. I cannot murder him here. There are too many witnesses. “Are you forgettingIdon’t have to be at every show? I came to help, so how about you say thank you instead of questioning me as if I’m late and you’re my boss.”
“That mouth gets you in a lot of trouble, doesn’t it?” He smirks.
I hate it. Makes him ugly.
“Dude, shut the fuck up and say thank you,” Travis bites out from the corner.
I throw a glare at him. He’s still on my shit list; I don’t need or want his interference. “Just forget it and tell me what you need,” I say.
Calvin proceeds to give me the rundown of why he called me so frantic. A nasty round of food poisoning hit the merch vendors. Only one of them showed up, and as I predicted, the venue tonight is sold out. I only received the news when I was walking in here and I haven’t even shared it with the guys yet. I wanted to do it as soon as I got here and beat Calvin to it. He doesn’t deserve to be the one to tell them. I’m the one who busts my ass making sure they’re plastered all over social media, spreading them far and wide.
My phone buzzing from my pocket multiple times stops me as I’m unpacking box after box of band shirts. Emily is the only one who was spared from the sickness plaguing the others, and we’ve been moving as fast as we can, but with thelast-minute notice, I don’t know how we’re going to get all this done in time. There was supposed to be a mobile stand outside hours ago, but we have no one to run it.
I take my phone out in case it’s the guys needing something.
Jordan-fan boy:
Hey Ellie, wanted to see if you’d like to meet up for a drink before the show.
I smile and then frown. I’d already forgotten about Jordan.
Ellie:
I’m sorry, I’d love to, but I’m already at the venue. We had an emergency with vendors so I’m working the merch stand.
Jordan-fan boy:
Is there anything I can do to help?
I start to type no, but then glance outside at the line.
Ellie:
Honestly, if you’re offering that would be amazing!
Jordan-fan boy:
I’ll head that way now.
Ellie:
